New Theme!!!

After the last post I figured – “hey, new town, new job – new blog theme!”  Your’e in the right place – that is if you got here intentionally. If you didn’t – WELCOME to the new, improved, Pacific coast theme!  I hope you enjoy it!

Office Politics

Heh heh, things have been heating up here lately as national politics has come into the office. I hadn’t really been paying attention since there’s been so much to do at home as well as here. Anyway, yesterday’s newspaper had a headline about how Barak Obama’s wife talked about his “bedrock values” and ensured America that they were people just like everyone else. Well, it sure brought up the topic here! California seems to be a strange state, too – because although the Governor (yep – it’s Mr. Schwarzenegger) is a Republican he definitely has a European socialist view of administration. It’s kind of like he’s Repulican (centre right) on business and the economy, but Democrat on social issues. It makes it’s own kind of sense, I guess.

Anyway – the Obama speech really “pissed people off” in the office, on both sides of the election. Some of the guys here were annoyed at what they called “pandering” – which means to try to win the favour of people by giving them what they want. Coffee-break democrats said that it was stupid of Obama to underline his “everyman” appeal and try to make himself sound like an “Abe Lincoln” president. “When I went to school we had to walk – in the snow and cold – uphill – both ways!” That kind of stuff. So the centre-left who wants to vote for Obama as an alternative doesn’t want “everyman”. The guys on the other side of the spectrum thought almost the same thing – that he was simply putting on a show to get people to think of him as something he’s not. They claimed that he was elitist.

It was interesting. America does have this dual relationship with its identity. On the one hand, they are highly individualistic. On the other hand, they do have this concept that through “bedrock values” all individuals can have the same opportunities and be “everyman”. They like to see people sacrifice and then succeed. Be humble, but then become a big success (while still being humble). This makes it hard for them to deal with hierarchy and, in a way, makes it hard for them to deal with community as a collective. They tend to see community not as something you participate in and that you are inherently a part of, but something that is publicly created by the will of voluntary participant individuals. That makes all community action much more planned and much more debated. The discussion is good, I suppose, but sometimes it means that the public aspect of community only exists when there are problems, and then everyone goes back home and carries on their own individual lives. It’s just an observation, but the argument yesterday about Obama’s “everyman appeal” and “bedrock values” was just a bit strange.

Wisconsin wasn’t like this so much. I don’t know if the tone here is partially set by the fact of having Schwarzenegger as a governor or not. California is a very wealthy state, with a GDP almost the size of Italy’s, but with 20,000,000 fewer people. It’s richer as a state in the US than Canada is as a country, for example, and has only slightly more people. It also has a reputation of being a very progressive state, where the “bedrock values” are different – there is a lot of social freedom here, but there are also a lot of problems and reasons for “the community” to debate things. The atmosphere at work in Madison was much more laid back, if not reserved. Here it seems that they’ve got some undefinable project that they’re trying to put together – but in such a way that emphasises differences and exeptionalism. It really is interesting!

I suppose we’re closer to the November election too, so people are getting more excited. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if they’re excited because the government is going to change or if they’re just excited by the competition between these personalities. McCain might win on the grounds of being more soft-spoken!

Anyway – in other news. Janine and I LOVE mexican food!!!! We’re eating it all the time!!! It’s fantastic!!! We went to a place called “Las Olas” (The Waves). We had a shrimp and scallop appetizer and then I had, get this, shrimp stuffed with scallops and wrapped in bacon. It’s called the shrimp Cortez. I almost died. It was great. And quite a few bottles of Dos Equis (XX).

Here’s their menu, if you’re ever in Carlsbad!

http://www.lasolasmex.com/menu.htm

What a great time. Janine is interviewing these days, and is therefore a bit stressed, but she should hear about a job soon. Everyone is talking about recession, but my guess is that the high-tech sector will continue to grow, as people look to internet and communications technology for entertainment and work without having to fill up the car!

Anway – we’re having a good time. We like California. It’s warm.

New job

Well, I’m on my coffee break on the second day of my new job. It’s pretty cool – in a scary kind of way. It’s a very different feeling when you’re working because that’s what you do. What I mean is, up until now I was working, and it was hard and demanding, but I was doing it because I was in university – or at least I had university to finish. Now there is no other calendar but the project calendar. It is really keeping me busy!

The company is more “laid back” (I’ve explained that one before) in outward appearance. I was amazed at the building. It is in its own glass and white concrete building with beautiful lawns around it and a small lake or large pond with ducks in it.  My boss says that they got money from the state government to build the pond large enough so that a helicopter could get to it for water in case of forest fires. I don’t know if this is true, but it sounds possible. Work is good. The people here work very hard, but somehow they seem less stressed about the day to day activities of the job. It’s interesting too because there is a great deal more latino influence around here, which I really like.  It’s in the street names and place names and just everywhere.

Anyway – my coffee break is over. I’ll write more soon.  It’s not bad to be Bob in Carlsbad California! Janine is having a good time getting to know the place, but starting to think about work too!

It’s cloudy and cool today! I gotta go!